Hello to all! My name is Alex Kuettel and I am a senor here at the U of M. I am a marketing major and this will be my last semester! Considering this is will be read by others to get to know me the following will contain all true facts about me, some of which you might not be able to handle! Just kidding! I would describe myself as a "run of the mill" type of guy. I like sports, fishing and hunting. Well I like sports but I have never gotten into the latter. I golf and Frisbee golf during the warmer part of the year and play basketball inside during the winter. My family has a cabin in northwestern Wisconsin and I really enjoy going up there to relax. I am looking forward to this class and getting to know everyone!

I was drawn to this piece because it immediately gave me a very relaxed feeling. This sculpture was constructed out a very old looking wood that was stained to look dark. The wood really added to the relaxed feeling because it reminded me of an ancient forest. At the top of the structure sat polish rocks that not only looked nice but also reflected the light off the water making it dance on the wood backing. This sculpture may have looked like nice decoration you might find in a backyard but I felt it was more than that. This piece was much more personal than a backyard waterfall kit at Target. The sculpture encompassed the perfect balance of the three main elements that it was comprised of. The wood, water and rocks seemed to be in harmony with one another and if it wasn't located in art gallery you would believe that this could've been created by nature not man.

I chose to critique the thesis project of Josh K Winkler. His work was focused around a collection of "woodcut" prints. These prints look very unique because of the seldom-used method he chose to use. His prints were also accompanied by a story detailing the background of the pictures. I really liked that he provided background to his pictures because the pictures were so familiar looking it was nice to find out where they came from. I decided to focus this critique on two of his prints, The Land of Diorama and Island of Agriculture. The Land of Diorama is a picture of large-scale fish at a tourist attraction. I was immediately was drawn to this because I remember seeing these fish as a child. All the fish are native of the Midwest and the main attraction in this picture is the giant Muskie. This was the only print by Winkler that doesn't feature really obvious man made intervention on nature. However his background on this piece does present a message along those lines. He was showing how man has conquered the once wild lakes, rivers and streams of this area. He also talked about how the landscaped area surrounding the model fish required watering the grass, which makes you think about how man has impacted wildlife. The other painting by Winkler I really liked was entitled "Island of Agriculture." This print provided a much more in-your-face view of man's intervention in nature. The viewpoint of this picture is on top of a cliff, overlooking a bay and other waterways. This view should make one feel at ease with this beautiful vantage point but this print doesn't anything but make you feel at ease. There is garbage in the foreground of the picture and large power lines running's through the background. The once scenic bat is littered with boats and different types of ugly industrial machinery. I thought this print provided a vivid look into how quickly a scenic bay can be turned into an industrial nightmare!

After seeing previews of this movie I really had little to no desire to see it. However after rave reviews from friends and seeing the a copy of the film appear on Easter morning I decided I would give the academy award winner a viewing. One of the elements that I wasn't looking forward to in this movie was the amount of emotional energy it would take out of me. I like comedies and movies that make you think but the cinematography in this movie was really impressive. When the charters were in a hostel situation in the movie you as a viewer felt you were there. The environment in which the movie takes place gave the director a lot of good opportunities for unique shots and she took full advantage of that! When the main character was out in the open in many of the scenes and you got to experience his vulnerability through the directors creativity. Every slow step the actor took in his massive body armor made you feel uneasy because there were civilians all around watching from different vantage points. What also made the action scenes so personal was the fact there was really only three soldiers handling the situation. You got to know each individual soldier and were just hoping everything would go smoothly. It would be hard for someone to view this movie and not be on the edge of their seat, so I think the director was extremely successful in terms of cinematography.

The three-minute egg segment I chose to write about focused on the work of three different artists. The first artist is named Irve Dell and he is a sculptor. In this scene they focused on his work using toys as pieces of his sculpture. I like how he draws meaning from his kids toys and other objects around him, like his father's prosthesis leg. The next artist was Kurt Hunter. He is a marionette artist who was working with paper in this segment. I thought it was pretty amazing the story he could tell with just paper and string. The last artist in this three minuet egg was Liz Schachterle. She was a very talented actor that used different media in her routine. In this three-minute egg she has a screen on her head that projects pictures that relate to her stories. She also uses puppets in her productions which add to her free-sprit personality.